Educational Books About Ice for Kids (Winter Science Unit Study)

Winter is the perfect excuse to start learning about ice — whether you’re up to your eyeballs in snow or enjoying balmier weather! Let’s break out the books about ice for kids!

In addition to offering a reading list of alphabet books, I’ve teamed up with some fellow bloggers to offer you homeschool and in-class learning ice unit study resources. You can find these books about ice for kids at your local library or purchase through the affiliate links provided for your convenience.

Educational Books About ice for Kids

Ice Is Nice!: All About the North and South Poles (Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library): Chill out with the Cat in the Hat as he takes Sally and Dick to visit the North and South Poles in this very cool Cat in the Hat Learning Library book! As the Cat and Co. mingle with reindeer, musk oxen, polar bears, caribou, and all sorts of penguins, they discover how the animals stay warm in freezing temeratures, why it’s colder at the South Pole than at the North Pole, that one pole is located on land and the other isn’t, and how scientists are studying climate change to keep both poles icy cold. Perfect for fans of the hit PBS kids TV show The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That, this is a great choice for curling up with on a winter’s day!

Twelve Kinds of Ice: With the first ice—a skim on a sheep pail so thin, it breaks when touched—one family’s winter begins in earnest. Next comes ice like panes of glass. And eventually, skating ice! Take a literary skate over field ice and streams, through sleeping orchards and beyond. The first ice, the second ice, the third ice . . . perfect ice . . . the last ice . . . Twelve kinds of ice are carved into twenty nostalgic vignettes, illustrated in elegantly scratched detail by the award-winning Barbara McClintock.

Waiting for Ice: Based on a true story, WAITING FOR ICE follows an orphaned polar bear cub as she struggles to find food on Wrangel Island, far north in the Arctic Ocean. Left alone at ten months old, the young female finds herself up against other bears who are bigger and stronger than she is—and just as hungry. Due to rising temperatures, the bears are trapped on the island until the ice packs reform. Only then can they venture out to hunt for seals and whales, using the ice as life rafts.

ICE!: The Amazing History of the Ice Business: In the early 1800s, people began to harvest ice, store it in ways that limited melting, and transport it to homes and businesses. Eventually, almost everyone had an icebox, and a huge, vital ice business grew. In this riveting book, acclaimed writer Laurence Pringle describes the key inventions and ideas that helped the ice business flourish. He points to the many sources of ice throughout the East and Midwest and spotlights Rockland Lake, “the icebox of New York City,” to offer a close-up look at the ice business in action. Pringle worked closely with experts and relied on primary documents, including archival photographs, postcards, prints, and drawings, to capture the times when everyone waited for the ice man and his wagon to deliver those precious blocks of ice.

Trapped by the Ice!: Shackleton’s Amazing Antarctic Adventure: Describes the events of the 1914 Shackleton Antarctic expedition when, after being trapped in a frozen sea for nine months, the expedition ship, the Endurance, was finally crushed and Shackleton and his men made the very long and perilous journey across ice and stormy seas to reach inhabited land.